The Orange: Great Last Minute Pre-Run Fuel

Ever realize 15-30 minutes before a run that you forgot to fuel up? Grab an orange! An orange has 100% of your daily Vitamin C needs. Vitamin C helps prevent muscle injury by replacing collagen in the muscle fibers that bread down during running. Oranges provide needed simple carbohydrates, but they're low on the glycemic index so their natural sugars won't cause your blood sugar to spike and crash. Oranges also contain quercitrin, a citrus flavonoid, that some research shows helps to

increase tolerance for exercise, quicken recovery time, and increase performance. Eat a whole orange not orange juice before a run. Orange juice has a much higher concentration of the natural sugars and may cause GI issues in some runners. So, keep a few oranges on hand for those times you forget to fuel or just want to give yourself an extra boost.